Little Black Goes to the Circus! by Walter Farley

Little Black Goes to the Circus! by Walter Farley. Illustrated by James Schucker (Canada) - (USA) Out of Print

Pages: 61 pages
Ages: 5+
Finished: May 30, 2010
First Published: 1963
Publisher: Beginner Books, Random House
Genre: easy reader
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

I call my pony Little Black.

Acquired: Bought and own a copy.

Reason for Reading: My son read this to me as his reader.

This is the second and last book Farley did for the "Dr. Seuss" Beginner Books series. It continues on with the boy and his pony, Little Black. This time they meet up with a circus and Little Black runs ahead to the circus people to impress them with his tricks. When the circus master Mr. Bruno wants to make Little Black a part of his circus the boy wanders off near by and feels lonely and left out.

A good book for reading once the child gets the hang of the owner's name, Mr. Bruno. I'd say this was a level higher in reader than Little Black, A Pony. A fun, wholesome story but I find it a little over the top. The story isn't very believable and gets a bit carried away. The illustrations are also very bright, bold and a bit gaudy. I suspect in keeping with the circus theme. Children will enjoy the book and any "Dr. Seuss" book from the sixties is better than the current batch being published but I do prefer Farley's first book for this series. Out of print, of course, and not likely not to be re-printed.

I'm surprised I haven't reviewed Little Black, A Pony yet. We've read it; I must have forgot to blog it. I'll have to see if I can find it and bring it out for review.

I'm wondering now if ds would like the Black Stallion books. He loves animal stories and has a western streak in him (must be his Albertan blood showing through), but I've never read one so not really sure if they are "boy" books or even if they are westerns, for all I know they could be girly horse riding school books. Must look them up!